The Pirate Predicament
by Knight Mistress
Summary: A usually head-strong girl, Elve wishes that this time, she had held back instead of jumping into the water to rescue Elizabeth. Now, she is in a problem hard to unravel, and it will take more then a pirate named Jack Sparrow to get her out of it.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean, although I wish I did.**

This wasn't considered walking around. Maybe it was considered lurking. Or perhaps eavesdropping. Either way, Elve wasn't going to stop what she was doing.

Commodore Norrington's promotion was today. Most _normal _people would be exclaiming over it, and how handsome Norrington looked today. Ha. As if.

For the most part, Elve wasn't normal. The red-headed girl never exclaimed over most men like the hot-headed court ladies. Love was just a feeling and she choose to block it out. For the most part, love would never hurt her like it did to so many other girls.

She wasn't pretty and no one took notice in her, so why should she take notice in anyone else? Her eyes were considered evil, greener then ever seen before. When she was younger, Elve had often looked in mirrors, wondering. Her eyes didn't look any greener then most people's and she didn't understand why people had cast her out like this.

The green eyes were just an excuse to avoid her. No one liked the clumsy Irish immigrant and disgraced her. More then once, people had dropped waste out of their windows on her, but she just kept walking, ignoring the flies and stench that followed her so loyally.

Elve cooked and cleaned for herself, keeping a small cottage at the edge of Port Royal to herself. She wasn't a quiet girl and it was quite unusual for her to have a cottage away from society. But if it kept away the villagers, she accepted it.

Ah, yes, the lurking. Or eavesdropping. As I said before, there was no chance Elve was going to stop. The streets were filled with whispers that the Commodore was going to propose to Elizabeth Swann and she wanted to know for herself.

Blending in would be a problem, of course, everyone knew her red hair and green eyes, they all knew her taste in clothing and what she would wear. But there had been something that she had been saving for this occasion.

Yes, Elve had stolen a stupid wig from a Navy man.

It itched. That was the one complaint she had other then it being ugly. But it would hide her hair and perhaps no one would notice her green eyes.

But of course, you might be saying, she couldn't go out in a Navy wig and a dress! That would be ridiculous and I am ashamed that you would ever think that. Can you imagine a fourteen year old girl in a pampered wig and dress? And could you imagine the faces of everyone else? Of course that _would_ be priceless, but Elve was not looking to stand out.

Or, you might be thinking that she should have just worn a dress like a court lady. Drop that topic right now. I am warning you. Drop it.

Earlier today, she had tucked her hair underneath the wig and put on an outfit similar to the Navy's. It wasn't that close to theirs, unfortunately, but most people, (men and women) would be exclaiming on how wonderful Norrington looked today in very, _very, _high pitched voices. Again, ha. As if. The thought just made her shudder.

So there she was. Parading around in a horrible Navy costume and a wig. Most of the men could not figure out why a poorly dressed Navy man was hiding behind walls when he (or she) should be looking at how cute the new Commodore was. But really, they didn't care. All they did care about was Norrington and they hid her puzzlement.

And there the Commodore was, with Elizabeth, standing near the edge of the tall building.

If you were in the right senses, man or woman, you would be wishing that you were in Elizabeth's place.

Elve picked up some of their conversation, Norrington was quite loud_. It's like he's wishing to be heard! _She exclaimed, moving out from the walls and in to the open, where she could be seen, but just barely.

"Elizabeth, will you marry me?"

"I-I can't breathe!"

"Yes, I know this is rather sudden, I can't quite believe it myself. ." Elve snickered. He was so full of himself. She bet, if it was legal and everyone allowed it, he would marry _himself_.

And then, just like that, Elizabeth fell from the top of the building and splashed into the water below.

"ELIZABETH!" Norrington yelled, his voice going up several octaves. He started to take of his clothes, but someone stopped him. "Sir, the rocks!"

Elve knew she had to do something. She marched up to the front and pushed Norrington away. "Move." She snarled to everyone else, throwing her powdered wig behind her and took off her coat.

"The wench!" Someone growled and started to move forward, but was interrupted. "Stay. If she dies because of the rocks, we won't have to deal with her anymore."

Elve put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me," she said loudly. "I do believe I have a name. My mother did not name me Wench O'Hara." And with that, Elve dove into the ocean.

She twisted her body like an acrobat and managed to narrowly avoid the rocks, only receiving a shallow scratch on her arm. _Another cut. _She thought grimly as she moved down to the bottom of the ocean.

Elizabeth was slowly floating down as Elve swam a bit faster to reach for her. Too bad someone had already reached her and Elve looked at him in disbelief. Some dread-locked man had picked up Elizabeth and started to bring her up to the surface.

With raised eyebrows, she moved towards him and rammed him with her shoulder, causing his breath to leave in surprised gasps and for him to move away from Elizabeth. Elve grabbed Elizabeth, crossing out the looks of "what are you doing," with looks of victory.

_He never saw that coming._ She thought smugly, but that smile was taken away as the man came up and grabbed Elizabeth from her. Elve hung on, though, sending dirty looks to him as they reached the surface.

The only thing the man could sputter was, "What on Earth were you doing?"

Elve peered at him through her bangs and pushed them out of her eyes. "Saving her. Oh wait, were you planning on doing that? Sorry, I've already risked my life too many times today without you interfering. Go away." She grabbed Elizabeth and started to swim towards the dock, where two Navy men were waiting.

The man swam in front of her. "Excuse me, I _jumped_ in to save her."

She shrugged. "I dove."

His eyebrows knitted together and his lips pulled into a frown. "I don't like you."

"I could say the same about you." They had moved to the dock where it took both Elve and the man to haul Elizabeth up there.

Then, it was a race between the two of them to get on first. She pushed the man down many times, but he did the same for her. In the end, the man reached the top first and stood up triumphantly, ignoring the looks from the Navy men. She grimaced and pulled herself up.

"They're acting like children." One of them observed. "Badly behaved children."

"Are not!" They both exclaimed at the same time as Elve knelt next to Elizabeth. They glared at each other before she turned her head back to the governor's daughter.

"She's not breathing." One of them exclaimed, forgetting the childish remark he had just made.

"Of course not," Elve muttered, taking out a dull kitchen knife from her belt. "It's not like she was in the water the whole time."

She put the knife at the top of the corset and began to cut, embarrassed at how long it took because of the knife's dullness. Once it was off, Elizabeth rolled over and began to cough. Norrington lifted her up and put a blanket around her.

"Clearly you've never been to Singapore." The man remarked cheerfully to one of the men.

"Corsets are the fashion in London. Everyone knows that." Elve informed him simply.

"I'm sorry for not knowing the latest fashion, your Majesty." He said with spite as Elve moved to stand near the edge of the dock.

He looked over at her. "_I_ was standing there."

"So?" She shrugged. "I'm here now."

He lifted his arm to push her away, but she interrupted him. "Don't touch me."

They were both interrupted by Governor Swann saying in that unusually high voice of his, "Kill them."

"But Father!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "You certainly do not want to kill my rescuers!"

The guns lowered from them as the governor sighed. "Very well."

Beckett, who had joined them, reached out his hand to shake the man's, ignoring Elve the very best possible. _Hey! I risked my life out there too!_

The man hesitated to grab it, but in the end, he did. Beckett pulled up his sleeve, revealing that he was a pirate. "A pirate." He said quietly. "Jack Sparrow."

Before Jack could say anything, Elve exclaimed from the back of the dock. "Of course you're a pirate! What else would you be? And Jack Sparrow? What kind of name-"

"I believe there should be a 'captain" somewhere in there, love."

"Love? I barely even _know_ you."

"Miss O'Hara, please refrain from interrupting."

Elve ground her teeth and looked over where Jack and Beckett were standing.

Beckett accepted Jack's things. "A compass that doesn't point north," he grabbed the gun. "a pistol with a single shot," Beckett reached for the sword and smiled. "And I half expected it to be made of wood."

Jack gave a sort of apologetic smile.

"Kill them." Governor Swann said again.

"What of Miss O'Hara?" Elizabeth inquired. "She hasn't done anything wrong."

"It would do us all good if she was gone."

Elizabeth looked at him as if he was crazy and started to move forward towards them. "Father-"

"Elizabeth! Get back here."

"I'll get us out of this, love." Jack whispered to Elve while the men were distracted.

She looked at him with troubled eyes and said nothing. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

><p><em>So, should I continue? I really don't like the ending that much. <em>


End file.
